The first time I met Jack Greer, I knew, just knew, that he was someone super special. Jack is an amazing artist, illustrator, (secret) tattooer, and now designer, and I got so excited when he told me that he was working on one-of-a-kind jean jackets. Custom embroidered, embellished, glitz and glammed out, each one (there are only 6!) is hand-made from start to finish and exclusively sold at Opening Ceremony. Check out the jackets in these pics and video, and read our Q&A below!

Olivia Kim: Tell me about what you do.
Jack Greer: I do all sorts of things -- some things I love and some things to make rent. I think it's the period of time when one does a little bit of everything or at least says 'yes' to anything. With regard to things I enjoy and would love to do forever, I make sculptures, paintings and clothes, take photographs, skateboard, ride my bike, walk my dog, eat lots of food and spend way too much money on it, run around like a chicken with its head cut off... 

OK: Because every jacket you make is done completely by hand (from the stitching, to the patch making, to the sewing of the chains and decorations), each of them is so personal. How do you feel about a complete stranger wearing one?
JG: It isn't too hard for me to separate myself from the finished product once it leaves my hands. I learned how to do this with my art works because I seldom have the space to keep everything I make, so I either throw it away or give it to friends. This sort of "nothing is precious" mentality makes any attachment to a piece so much less complicated once it leaves my hands.

I love the idea of strangers wearing my things. The further the work spreads, the more likely someone will become aware of it -- someone who isn't my best friend that I see everyday wearing the damn thing. It's nice to hear that what I'm doing is good, especially when it's coming from someone who doesn't feel obligated to say so.

OK: Who is your greatest musical influence?
JG: I don't have one favorite band, or one thing that stands above the rest -- but there's definitely a small list that keeps coming up. Maybe I don't do enough new research or maybe I found all the good stuff when I was a teenager. Either way, I seem to return to DEVO, Minor Threat, The Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, and all those sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs, adolescent-coming-of-age-punk bands.

OK: When you were a kid, what did you want to be doing as a grown up?
JG: I think I wanted to be a pro skater. All I did was skateboard, all day and night, making little videos with friends and hoping that one day we would be sponsored as well.

OK: Do you have any secret talents?
JG: I don't know how secret the talents are but I've been thinking about firing up the tattoo machine again, though it's been ages since I used it and everyone is always ready to get a new bad tattoo, it seems.

OK: What does the perfect day look like for you?
JG: Wake up at 8:30am, take Iggy on a walk for an hour (or mainly sit in the dog park answering e-mails while he runs around), come home and drop him off, hop on my bike and go get some breakfast at Lovely Day -- preferably on the weekend when there are more options on the menu -- meet up with a few friends and go do a few laps at Central Park on our bikes, come back downtown, get three hours of work done in the studio, go walk Iggy again, eat a big awesome dinner, skate to the bar, have a hundred thousand million beers with friends, skate through the summer wind to another bar and meet more friends, meet the girl of my dreams, go home...

This is a realistic best day... If I didn't have obligations, I'd wake up at 7:30am and surf until mid-day while Iggy plays on the sand with a ball, lay on the beach for a few hours, skate a mini ramp for the evening with friends and backyard lights blasting Metallica, drink a few beers and go to sleep in a hammock. I dream of those days. One day.

OK: Let's play a word association game. I'll say a word and then you write the first thing that comes to your head:
Love - Life
Punk - Rock
Friends - The only thing you have at the end of all this
Dead Bunny - Olivia Kim
Pink - Cam'ron
New York - Times Square, 1987. The best soundtrack.
PDA - Personal Digital Assistant used to communicate possible displays of affection in hopes to do so one day publicly.
Tupac or Biggie - Westside Palmside 310 EE We Out Here on MOBB 2Pacalypse Now.


Jack Greer for Opening Ceremony jackets are available at OCNY or by phone order, at (646) 237-6078.

Untitled by Lele Saveri - from Jack Greer on Vimeo.

FILED UNDER: jack greer , olivia kim , it takes two , interview , zippora seven , outerwear